Istanbul family hospitalized with suspected food poisoning, 4 people now in custody as investigation launched

A mother and her two young children have died in Istanbul after getting sick from what officials believe was food poisoning. The family, known as the Böcek family, was staying at a hotel in the Fatih District when they became ill during their holiday.

According to People, the children, who were 6 and 3 years old, died first even though doctors tried to save them. Their mother died soon after, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said in an update on X. The father is still in the hospital, and his “treatment is still ongoing.”

After the deaths happened, health officials and prosecutors in Istanbul started looking into what went wrong. They collected samples from the restaurants and food places where the family had eaten, and four people “on duty and responsible at these places have been taken into custody,” Tunc said. Officials are still trying to figure out what caused these deaths.

The confusion around what they actually ate

Different news outlets have reported different things about what the family ate while they were in the city.  CBS News said the family had eaten popular street foods like mussels with rice and Kumpir, which is a baked potato loaded with toppings. Some reports also said they might have eaten kokorec, a dish made from grilled lamb entrails, and Turkish delight.

But CNN Türk told a different story based on what officials said. Their sources claimed the family did not eat potatoes at all. Instead, they had soup, kokorec, and mussels. The family had come from Hamburg, Germany, where they lived, and arrived in Istanbul on Sunday, November 9, for their trip.

Dr. Abdullah Emre Guner, who is Istanbul’s Regional Health Chief, was the first to tell people about the family being rushed to the hospital. He said they were staying at a hotel when they got sick and needed emergency care.

The findings from the investigation have been sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine. This group will “determine the definitive cause of death of the two deceased children and the mother,” Tunc explained. He also shared his sadness about what happened, saying, “I offer my deepest condolences and prayers for God’s mercy upon the two children and their mother who passed away in this tragic incident.”

Getting sick from bad food is still a big problem around the world. A Centers for Disease Control report from March 2025 showed that bad food made more than 53,000 people sick enough to go to the hospital in the United States.

More than 900 people died. The CDC found that Norovirus makes the most people sick from food, while Salmonella causes the most deaths from food poisoning.